This is the fourth of the Agatha Christie Poirot television series I've reviewed, and it's getting just a bit monotonous.

Not the show - in fact, Agatha Christie Poirot: The Hollow is one of the better entrants in this series. It's just how often can you say that David Suchet was born to perform this role?

Forget the strutting, egocentric, overstuffed and totally unconvincing Peter Ustinov, who was the most prominent of the earlier Poirot incarnations. David Suchet is the real thing. Neat, prissy, fastidious and fat. The body of a hippopotamus and a mind like a razor.

In this instalment of the Poirot saga, Poirot is invited to spend the weekend at The Hollow, home of the eccentric Angkatell family. They decide to stage a murder tableaux -- but somehow, the intended 'murder victim', Doctor John Christow, really does get shot.

The doctor's wife is the obvious suspect, but as Poirot investigates, he finds that just about everyone in the house had a motive for murder. And no-one particularly cares that the victim is dead. No-one, that is, save Poirot. While the family would just as soon sweep the whole affair under the carpet, Poirot presses on, to uncover the facts and the culprit.

Will he succeed? Or is this the case that will defeat our dapper Belgian detective and expose his scientific detection methods as so much hokey balderdash? Do you really care? Just settle back, enjoy the splendid acting from David Suchet, and feast your eyes on the meticulous period reconstruction -- Agatha Christie has been done proud.

Once again this television series bursts onto our screen in full widescreen anamorphic glory, with wonderful picture quality, glowing with luscious colours.

The sound is your basic television stereo, but is very well recorded, and the dialogue is crisp and clear. There are no extras of any kind.